Touring - Eastern Europe, Turkey, Caucasus

Hi folks,

just came back from Georgia. This summer it was Berlin-Ushguli (highest village of Europe, up in the central Caucasus close to Elbrus an' all that).

Travelog and pics from flickr accounts have been merged on an external page that can be reached via
www.caucasusbybike.blogspot.com
Any questions about EE, CIS or the situation up in the Georgian mountains in particular, contact me through the link above.

Cheers - Till Rumohr

Thanks alot for that story I manged to get no work done on mon afternoon because of that! :) Looks like quite an adventure. I am interested in touring eastern Europe but am slightly worried as I do not have a Slovak lauguage or Russian at my dissposole. I am worried about going to an area that for non locals seems like it can be quite dodgy especially if you don't know the lingo. I have a friend from Cz who has toured around that part of europe (not on bike) but he knows some Russian as well. I am of the opinion that most people in this world are nice but it is eaiser to get yourself in trouble and harder to get yourself out of trouble if you have not laguage skills. I know I can get a phrase book for the basic things but that only gets you your bread and milk in the morning. So what I am trying to ask is do you think this part of the world is dodge for a non local to the region with no Russian or Slovak basied laguage.

I believe one potential "general" foreign language to try in Eastern Europe is still German. As you advance eastwards, Russian becomes increasingly useful.

--J